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Hanamichi Sakuragi
The protagonist. At the beginning of the series, Sakuragi was a slacker, good for nothing other than fighting. He is the leader of the feared "Sakuragi Legion", which consists of his four friends Mito, Noma, Ohkusu and Takamiya. Sakuragi's quest for love was nothing but humiliating. He was always trying to ask girls out, but was rejected constantly, the 50th rejection occurring at the start of the series. He then met Haruko Akagi, a lovely basketball fangirl, whom he fell in love with immediately. This and Haruko's encouragement led to him to join the Shohoku basketball team. However, as a complete beginner, he was not able to keep up with the rest of the team at first despite his physical attributes (great height, athleticism, stamina, speed and leaping ability). He regards himself as a genius though, with self-confidence that borders on arrogance. His most recognizable trait is his red hair, though he shaves his head as reparation for an error that led to a loss in the interhigh tournament against Kainan. Sakuragi has a habit of making fun of other players by calling them things other than their names. He calls Akagi "gorilla" (causing other people to mimic - much to Akagi's irritation), Uozumi "Boss monkey", Kiyota "Wild monkey", Maki "old man", Mashiro "totem pole", Masashi "gori ball" and Miyamasu "alien". Despite this the only one doing the same thing to Sakuragi is Kiyota who calls him "red haired monkey". At first, Sakuragi was known for his poor basketball skills as a beginner and in his first few official matches, he fouled out every game. However, his basketball skills advanced throughout the series. First he developed his basic skills, such as dribbling and lay ups. Then, trained by Akagi, he became a formidable rebounder, with his rebounding becoming his claim to fame throughout the latter half of the series. He also is seen more than once defining the match for Shohoku in the last seconds, for instance, by dunking a ball that Akagi would have missed in the interhigh tournament match with Ryonan. His jump shooting was then developed by Coach Anzai, who had him make 20,000 shots in a week. He hit a buzzer-beating jump shot to win the match against Sannoh. However, he also injured his back during the match against Sannoh, and underwent rehabilitation after Shohoku's subsequent loss to Aiwa Academy. In spite of the setbacks he has had to face, Sakuragi displays a great deal of tenacity and determination that carry him through and help reciprocate for his other failings, both on and off the court. Although his love for Haruko and rivalry with Rukawa are the main driving forces motivating him to succeed in basketball, his injury during the Sannoh match makes him realize that he has actually come to love the game, leading him to give his all for his team and bring them victory. Family It has been mentioned in the anime about Hanamichi’s father, who he calls old man, who had a heart attack when Hanamichi returned home. But Hanamichi couldn’t do anything for him because he was stopped by a group of high school students and was beaten up by them and was unable to get an ambulance for his father. This flashback was shown after Coach Anzai had his heart attack reminding Hanamichi of his past. As nothing was mentioned of his father after that, he is presumably dead. Category:Shohoku High School basketball team